Court vs. Access to Experimental Drugs, Government vs. People

In follow up to the battle of patient rights vs. protectionism, MSNBC polled public opinion. Of more than 10,000 responses, 94% thought that the government should stop their paternalistic behaviour and allow patients—especially dying patients—to decide whether to take an experimental treatment.

Ethics Professor Udo Schuklenk gets the “Barb du Jour” award for noting,
“94% thought that we should enact legislation permitting dying patients to make such choices. This is much in line with other polls providing consistently overwhelming majorities in favor of the legalization of voluntary euthanasia. The bottom line we continue to send to our democratic representatives is that we want to maximise control of our lives when we are dying. Equally consistently legislators tend to ignore our wishes. That's liberal democracy Western style for you ...”